Today we’d like to introduce you to Pamela Benson Owens.
Hi Pamela, we’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
I think how I started is the bridge to where I am now. Early on in my career, my father would always say to me that any job that’s an honest job is a good job. In other words, if there is an opportunity, even if it is the one at the local mall, or a fast-food restaurant, or a department store, or an internship, or a nursing home, there is always something to be learned, gained, relationships to be cultivated, skills to be acquired, chances to grow and develop. At this point in my career, I can truly say that I’ve worked, at one time or another, a variety of jobs. When I graduated from college and returned to the Austin area, I found myself back at my high school working. The pay was really low so I would leave a long day of teaching and supporting students and then drive across town to work in the children’s department or the suit department at Montgomery Ward in the mall by my apartment. Those were long days, but every single job helped me get to the point of starting my own consulting company and guess what? I still place myself smackdab in the middle of a variety of roles, jobs and positions with the sole purpose of helping others navigate complex situations.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
What’s a smooth road? Not one bit of my journey has been smooth and I consider myself lucky. I have two parents who believe in education, but they also believe in work ethic. I was certainly given opportunities, but the expectation was and still is that working hard and being consistent wasn’t negotiable.
I think in the last three years, I’ve finally gotten to a smoother road with the less potholes. The struggles along the way are absolutely inevitable, however, it’s how your approach the struggles that really matters. I remember working a corporate job, leaving the job (going through the drive-thru to get afternoon coffee), heading to graduate school in the evenings, then leaving school and driving to Wal Mart to work a cashier job overnight until 6:30am. Then, go home and shower and change clothes to be in place for my corporate job that started at 8:00am. Looking back on that, I don’t know how I did it, but I did. So many of my struggles were related to survive and working to be self-sufficient and independence.
The struggles I faced then as a Black female still persist today. The bandwidth it takes to survive and know that you have the skill set, competence and drive to actually thrive, but often those around you are unconsciously or consciously letting bias and preconceived notions run amuck, adds a layer of pressure to behave, perform and assimilate in ways that have you questioning your identity and place in the world. And- it’s not okay. I’ve had multiple years of practice in being directly dismissed, discounted and disrespected and still performing tasks.
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your business?
It is often said to me, wait what are you doing now?
The answer is, I’m showing up.
The ultimate goal with the ongoing work of EOYS is that our clients slow down long enough to speed up! By that we mean, we work alongside organizations to be intentional about workplace culture, leadership, teaming, navigating change and conflict, diversity, equity and inclusion work, leadership development and all aspect of culture that allow organizations to embody their mission statements.
It isn’t uncommon to see me being an ad hoc member of the team with my clients. You cannot support and enhance that for which you do not know. One day I could be doing sales coaching for a client, listening in on customer service calls, assisting with strategic planning, navigating some complex Human Resources issues, serving as an interim role, and doing anything that helps to reset, reframe, recalibrate organizational culture.
Currently, I serve as the CEO of Six Square – Austin’s Black Cultural Arts District. Simply put, I’m dual CEOing. It has been one of the most challenging roles I’ve encountered because it requires me to bring the brutal truth on the systemic inequities of a city that implemented the 1928 Master Plan. It was that plan that moved Black people to the East side of town within a six square mile radius in order to segregate races and supply Black people with substandard, and in many cases no resources. That history is alive and well and pumping through my veins each and every day I wake up. I grew up here, it’s part of who I am.
I was volun-told by the esteemed elders in my community that I was needed to help enhance the foundation that Six Square had manifested in previous years. Since I’ve been leading the organization, we’ve experienced firsthand the challenges of doing meaningful work in a pandemic and also in social unrest. There have been many days when I had to decide that the emotional wellness and wholeness of the team was more important than the work to be done. Several racial trauma sabbaticals have been issued and talk about the depth of what needs to be dismantled in this community in order for all to have a fair chance.
With that said, I’ve worn many hats, it’s what I do. Prior to coming to Six Square, I served as the Interim VP of Institutional Advancement at Huston-Tillotson University, prior to that, I assisted in an Interim Role at UMLAUF, prior to that Mariposa Pathways, and the list and also the opportunities to simply show up and support goes on and on.
Can you talk to us a bit about happiness and what makes you happy?
I actually stopped seeking happiness about ten years ago. Don’t get me wrong, happiness is great but I find it to be a conditional and fleeting emotion. From a societal norm perspective, it feels like we’ve made a performance goal out of happiness. There is embedded pressure in that. I truly try to practice wholeness and contentment. In doing so, it has allowed me to not give power to a challenging moment, or an unkind gesture, or being completely discombobulated when someone offends me. Instead, I work to have a slow and consistent burn on contentment and doing an ongoing check-in with myself that contentment doesn’t require perfection. It’s been liberating to let the notion of happy go. While I have several peaks of happiness in any given day, it isn’t the overall goal.
Contact Info:
- Email: info@edgeoys.com
- Website: https://www.pamelabensonowens.com/meet-pam
- Instagram: @edgeofyourseatconsulting @pamelabensonowens @sixsquareatx
- Facebook: Pamela Benson Owens
